


burnt cookies and coming out

by BeLikeTheBluebird



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeLikeTheBluebird/pseuds/BeLikeTheBluebird
Summary: in which seb, carlos, ashlyn and big red have a cookie day
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	burnt cookies and coming out

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! follow me on twt @nbsebmattsmith

“Are you really listening to the  _ Muppet Christmas Carol  _ soundtrack?” Carlos asks, hopping in the back of Georgie’s car and taking his partner’s hand.

Seb nods. “Well, only because it’s on. We also have a bunch of Christmas-y showtunes on here. And the new Taylor Swift Christmas single. and Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande”

Carlos laughs a little to himself. “Fair.” He pauses for a moment. “Hi, Georgie!” He says to the sister sitting in the front seat. 

She looks in her rear view mirror. “Hiya, ‘Los. Ready for Cookie day with Ashlyn?” 

“Of course I am! I’m kind of bummed Nini couldn’t make it, but at least we have Red.” 

Seb looks at their beau, smiling. “Did you ever think there would be a time in your life where you would be excited to hang out with some junior who couldn’t tell Laura Osnes from Laura Benanti?” 

Carlos ponders for a moment. “Did you ever think the ginger that hangs around Ricky Bowen would wind up being part of the theatre group chat?” 

“Hey, Ricky’s not _ the worst _ . I mean, there are certainly much better prople the world. But like, I never expected to hang around with Big Red. He’s nice and all, but we have nothing in common, other than mutual friendship with Ashlyn.” Seb responds. 

The rest of the car ride is just a Christmas singalong. Despite only being out for fifteen days, Carlos somehow has choreography for “Christmas Tree Farm” by Taylor Swift. And Seb has the harmonies planned out. The dedication of theatre kids is borderline admirable. 

The two teens hop out of the car in front of Ashlyn’s house, carrying in a giant tub of cookie cutters. 

“So, how did you get this many cookie cutters anyways?” Carlos asks, heaving a little bit. As far as he was concerned, there were far more cookies than anybody would ever need. 

“Well, Carlos. I have a huge family. We have fifteen stockings in our house, considering the dogs and cats have some, along with the cousins. Do you think we draw the line at cookie cutters?” Seb responds, only the slightest hint of sarcasm filling their voice. 

Carlos cocks his eyebrows. “Why pay for college when you could own ten angel cookie cutters per child?”

“Minimizes fights.” 

“Touché, honey. Touché.” 

The two teens plop the cookie cutters on the table and run into Ashlyn’s room, where Ashlyn and Big Red are sitting on her floor, watching a Christmas movie on Big Red’s laptop. Ashlyn’s crusty white dog, Rizzo, is cuddled into Red’s lap. The lovers stare at their friends for a minute before speaking up. 

“Aren’t you two Jewish?” Seb asks, before sitting down next to them. 

Ashlyn nods. “Well yeah, but  _ Santa Claus is Coming to Town  _ has very little to do with Jesus.” 

Carlos rolls his eyes. “Are you even listening to the screen? He literally just said Christmas was the holiest day of the year.”

Red scoffs. “Well, unless Frosty the Snowman is a Christ figure-”

“He is.” Seb interjects 

Red doesn’t finish his sentence. He’s too confused. 

Ashlyn fills the silence. “So, do we want to get baking?” 

Seb nods. “Let the East High Drama Kids Group Chat Non-Denominational Baking Day begin!” they say, tripping on their words.

For a STEM brain, Big Red is not suited for baking. This is especially concerning, given they were making Pillsbury instant cookies. 

“Red, why did you put exactly  _ one  _ cookie in the microwave?” Ashlyn asks, trying to clean up her microwave while feeding Rizzo the salvageable cookie bits.

Red shrugged his shoulders. “I wanted it now.” He could hear Carlos and Seb laughing somewhere in the background, but that didn’t stop him from frowning a little. “I’m sorry, Ash.” He mutters, trying to avoid all eye contact.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes “Red, hon. It’s literally whatever. Worst case scenario, my family does what they always do and steal money from EJ’s parents.” 

A stifled laugh comes from Seb and Carlos’ corner.

It should be noted that Seb and Carlos were much better at baking than Red. However, that’s like saying that you're better at walking than a newborn baby. It’s not the highest bar to pass. 

Carlos, for one, was much better at the frosting aspect. He found himself doodling out faces of snowmen and little Tiny Tim’s all over the cookie sheets. A little icing can go quite a long way.

Seb wasn’t half bad at baking. They quite liked the process of throwing a bunch of ingredients together to make something absolutely scrumptious. It also gave them an excuse to sing the  _ Waitress  _ soundtrack to themselves quietly. 

Waiting for cookies to bake was an excruciating process. So, they did what any self respecting group of teenagers would do. They all sat in a circle and talked.

Carlos was the one who originally sparked the discussion. “Guys, what if we started like, an East High GSA. I mean, we’ve got the sapphics, the straights, the gays, and Seb!” 

Red cocks his eyebrows. “Straights? EJ is literally nowhere to be seen.” 

Carlos laughs a little. “No, you. You’re straights. Remember? you’re exclusively attracted to women, you identify with your birth sex…”

“Wrong and Wrong.” Red responds, before quickly looking down at the ground in some mix of shame and fear.

Seb beams. “Not cis gang!” They said before giving Red a strange fist bump-hug mix. 

Carlos sat in confusion for a moment. “Dude, what’re your pronouns?” 

Red smiles. “Oh, he/they! I sort of assumed you all knew. They’ve been in my Instagram bio since the week after  _ HSM  _ closed.” 

Seb shrugs. “I’m sorry for not noticing.” They pause for a moment. “Anyways, boys. Am I right?” 

Red nods. “You’re right. They’re great.” They put on a slight Tony the Tiger voice towards the end in an attempt to mask the awkwardness of the situation. 

The oven pings. Seb and Carlos prance up, hand in hand. Red sits on the floor, petting Rizzo for a minute longer. 

Ashlyn shuffles closer once Seb and Carlos are out of earshot. To distract them for a moment longer, she shouts. “They have to cool, you fools.” 

A collection of cuss words fill the kitchen. 

“Hey, you did great.” She whispers to Red, who is still petting her dog. 

Red smiles a little bit, tears still welling in his eyes. “Did I though? What if they hate me? They could always be secret homophobes.”

Ashlyn stares him down. “Clifford the Big Red Teenager. They’re gay.” 

Big Red ponders on the thought for a moment. “Well, yeah. But like-”

Ashlyn shakes her head. “Nope. We’re going to my kitchen to frost cookies before Seb and Carlos burn down my home.”

“The cookies are out of the oven, how would they burn the house down?” 

“Do not doubt the power of two gay teenagers. They both follow the account ArsonTok on TikTok. I regret leaving them alone with my microwave.” 

“If I remember correctly, I was the one who lit a cookie on fire in your microwave.” 

Contrary to expectation, there was no fire set in the Caswell kitchen. There were about ⅔ of the cookies that had been cooked, but no fires. 

Frosting cookies with Ashlyn should be illegal. She truly is a “good at everything” type of person. Somehow, she made the uglier cookie (made by Red- he really should stay out of the kitchen) a masterpiece. Her angels were stunning and her snowmen intricately detailed.

“Keep those for yourself. We don’t deserve them.” Seb says, laughing a little bit. 

Ashlyn shook her head. “No, you all deserve them. They’re just like all of you.” 

“Perfect?” Carlos suggests

“No. Absolutely horrendous until I came along.”

Mildly hurt laughter from the other three teenagers ensues.

Sadly, baking days can’t last forever. Seb and Carlos are first to leave, hopping in the car with Georgie. Ashlyn smiles wistfully as she watches them go. She then takes another bite of her cookie. The duality of womankind. 

After Red leaves, Ashlyn sits down with  _ Eight Crazy Nights.  _ Not her favorite Hanukkah movie, but certainly an enjoyable one to watch after a day of eating a ridiculous amount of cookies and hanging out with glorious friends. 


End file.
